


GlitchTale: Another Way to Gain LOVE

by ArgentDandelion



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: EXP and LOVE (Undertale), Emotional Hurt, Gen, Glitchtale, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-19 23:29:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19982332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentDandelion/pseuds/ArgentDandelion
Summary: Explains why Frisk's LV increased to 2 in the Episode "Love" of GlitchTale, despite not killing anyone.





	GlitchTale: Another Way to Gain LOVE

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on May 31st, 2017. It has been slightly modified to better fit Archive of Our Own's format.

At the end of the episode, Frisk’s LV of 1 increased to 2. And why is that? Frisk hasn’t killed anyone. (“Killing” the goo creatures probably doesn’t count.)

I believe there’s an explanation for this.

When someone gains enough EXP (Execution Points) one’s LOVE increases. EXP is “A way of quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others”, and “LOVE” is “A way of measuring someone’s capacity to hurt.” In full: “[LOVE] stands for "Level of Violence.” A way of measuring someone’s capacity to hurt. The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself. The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt. The more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others.“

While killing is mentioned in Sans’ explanation, he doesn’t say it’s the only way to make it "easier to distance yourself”. One can distance oneself from others without killing, or even inflicting physical harm onto others.

Frisk inflicted emotional pain on Asriel with their harsh and callous words. This made it easier to distance themselves, and the more they distanced themselves, the less Frisk hurts (emotionally). In fact, this might still fit within the “Level of Violence” explanation, as, according to [Wikipedia](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FViolence&t=ZTMwNDkxYmZhMjRlNWZlM2FlMGU4ZTdmMDFmMDVhODk1OGJiNmVlOCxkUTB3NTh4Sw%3D%3D&b=t%3AHZZTbr56CX-Pu8cYzedJTw&p=https%3A%2F%2Fargentdandelion.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F161277025186%2Fglitchtale-another-way-to-gain-love&m=1), violent acts can also be psychological or emotional. “[Psychological abuse](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FPsychological_abuse&t=YjRmN2I1ZmZiZDIwMDhiYzFlOGMyNjM5N2ZkNGQzODdkOGRlOTVhZixkUTB3NTh4Sw%3D%3D&b=t%3AHZZTbr56CX-Pu8cYzedJTw&p=https%3A%2F%2Fargentdandelion.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F161277025186%2Fglitchtale-another-way-to-gain-love&m=1)” (also according to Wikipedia) can also be referred to as “psychological violence”.

I believe there are two explanations for this: that it was an intended product of Frisk’s behavior, and that it was an accidental byproduct of Frisk’s distanced behavior.

* * *

**Intended Product Hypothesis**

In this episode, it is revealed Frisk can no longer SAVE or LOAD after breaking their RESET button in “[Continue](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D2oZtRw1tHVQ%26index%3D1%26list%3DPLyqyE8FJHoUi_Yz_vvCTVotfQgaJ3zb-F&t=MGI1YTNjZTY5YzY4MmE5MGRiYWU5MmI4YWIxNGU2MGM1YWM5NzE2YSxkUTB3NTh4Sw%3D%3D&b=t%3AHZZTbr56CX-Pu8cYzedJTw&p=https%3A%2F%2Fargentdandelion.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F161277025186%2Fglitchtale-another-way-to-gain-love&m=1)” (Episode 5 of Season 1). They can no longer modify the timeline.

> **Frisk:** “It’d be a miracle if I win this in one go…and if I lose, it’s game over…forever.”

This means if Frisk dies, they stay dead. They have only one shot to stop Betty. Frisk believes that only they, with their SOUL of Determination, can defeat Betty (Bête Noire) and is insistent on their going to fight Betty alone.

What if Frisk’s behavior was part of a plan to get stronger to fight Betty?

In-game, most stats increase as the protagonist’s LV increases. What if Frisk deliberately inflicted emotional pain on Asriel as a ploy to increase their chances of winning against Betty?

–

**Rebuttal:**

After watching “Love” for the first time, I thought this was a plausible hypothesis. However, re-watching Frisk’s behavior makes this less plausible. Most of Frisk’s conversation was not hurtful towards Asriel. (Arguably, some parts were hurtful, but not deliberately so.) If it was Frisk’s plan to emotionally hurt Asriel to gain EXP and increase in LV, Frisk would have been more efficient about it.

* * *

**Accidental Byproduct of Callousness**

It’s more plausible that increasing in LV was an accident. Frisk seems to hold themselves responsible for what happened.[1](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/161277025186/glitchtale-another-way-to-gain-love#fn:1)

> **Frisk:** “This whole mess…is my fault.”

_“Facts about humans: they are unbelievably strong, their SOULs persist after death, and when they are emotionally distanced their eyebrows disappear.”_

One can see Frisk’s expression has changed to an inscrutable, blank one in “Love”, one akin to the one they have in-game. This seems to indicate detachment and emotional distancing. Frisk’s distancing of themselves may be a reaction or unhealthy coping mechanism to the death and suffering Frisk has been unable to stop. After all, “The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt (emotionally)”.

Frisk’s emotional distancing may have led them to say callous, hurtful things they ordinarily wouldn’t say. That they gained in LV from that could be an unintended byproduct.

* * *

**Re-Rebuttal:** Frisk’s behavior could be explained by a mixture of the two.

Observe the conversation below [punctuation added]:

> **Frisk:** “I already made up my mind. I’m going…and I’m going ALONE. The more I wait, the more people will die.”
> 
>  **Asriel:** “You’ll DIE if you go alone. You can barely hold your Determination together[…]We can wait and get stronger first!”
> 
>  **Frisk [seems to pause slightly]** “Since when are you worried about me dying? It’s not like you didn’t try to do it yourself a couple times…”
> 
>  **Asriel:** “I might have been confused Frisk, but you did everything of your own volition. You could still feel remorse and regret. You could feel love. You CHOSE to ignore that and STILL almost killed the entire underground. If you go right now, you’ll lose.”
> 
>  **Frisk:** “At least Flowey wasn’t such a coward.”

It’s possible “get stronger first” inspired Frisk to try something out: namely, whether they could gain LV through emotional pain. (the pause could be them thinking about this.) It is also possible this in addition to “if you go right now, you’ll lose” led Frisk to use the “killing blow” line of “at least Flowey wasn’t such a coward.”

* * *

  1. It’s unclear whether Frisk feels culpable about the timeline being “glitched”, the deaths of several monsters (because of their inability to SAVE), or both. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/161277025186/glitchtale-another-way-to-gain-love#fnref:1)





End file.
